WAFCON: Senegal’s Cissé says ‘anything is possible’ against South Africa

Senegal women’s national team head coach Mousse Cissé is not ruling out an upset when they face African champions South Africa in the quarterfinals of the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) at the Honneur Stadium in Oujda, Morocco on Saturday.

South Africa finished top of Group C on seven points – two wins and a draw, while the West Africans scraped through as one of the third-best placed teams. Ahead of the last eight clash, Cisse admits the African champions will be favourites but “anything can happen.”

“South Africa are the favourites, they are the better team, and we are the challengers. A win will be good for Senegal because it will be the first time we win this round, but we will need confidence, not give in to pressure and show Senegalese football in this competition. We are also happy to be playing against top teams on the continent like Morocco, Zambia and now South Africa,” said Cissé .

“We had a difficult path with a lot of obstacles, but our first objective was to qualify, and we managed to do that. Our matches against Morocco and Zambia made us look at things differently and we have corrected our mistakes. Anything is possible when we face South Africa, but we will do our best.”

The last meeting between South Africa and Senegal was in two friendly matches in June last year away in Dakar – one draw and a 2-0 victory for South Africa, thanks to goals from Amogelang Motau and Noxolo Cesane.

A win for Senegal will see them face Nigeria in the semifinals. Nigeria reached the last four following a 5-0 win against Zambia on Friday.